highest Ecclesiasticall corruption tyranny shewyng himselfe that he is God And for the maintenance of his high exaltation he thought it requysite aboue all other to take care of these two thinges First how to keepe under the temporall Princes Lords which had long raigned before him and to set up his spirituall Lords as his owne creatures which should be apperteyning and beholding to himselfe onely for all their Lordly estate The highest ecclesiastical corruption and tyranny that at the last both the Lords temporall spirituall might serue him to his great glory Now this great Antichrist reignyng over his temporall Lords and Princes who by the ordinance of God were appoynted to reigne themselues to the honor of Christ and not to the glory of Antichrist and specially triumphing by his spirituall Lords as his owne creatures created unto their Lordships and Archlordships by himselfe onely and not ordeyned therevnto by God but by him appoynted for his speciall gard and defence of his owne person and of his wife the great whore of Babell It pleased the Almightie God which created heaven and earth in the time by him appoynted reformation beginyng to rayse vp againe agreeable unto his first institution certayne poore Ministers Bishops Pastors to whom he committed the word of God which is the sword of the spirit therwith to fight against this glorious Antichrist and all his spirituall Lords And therefore as you haue heard before the auntient Fathers utterly condemning the great livyngs and Lordly estate of Bishops both by their doctrine decrees and practise of their owne lyues Now likewise let us heare what these men thus newly raysed up of God hold and affirme also in the practise of their owne liues approue touching the same Lordship of Bishops and other unwritten Traditions of men And first of Wickliffe of whom our booke of Martyrs saith This is out of all doubt Iohn Wicleffe Act. Mon pag 323 edit 1570 that at that time all the world was in most desperat and vile estate and that the lamentable ignorāce and darknes of God his truth had overshadowed the whole earth this man stepped forth like a valiant Champion Vnto whom it may be iustly applyed that is spoken in the booke called Ecclesiasticus of one Simon the sonne of Onias Even as the morning starre being in the middest of a cloude and as the Moone beyng full in her course and as the bright beames of the Sunne so doth he shine and glister in the temple and Church of God This Wickliffe in his answer unto King Richard the second as touching the right and title of the King and the Pope joyning old Barnard before named with himselfe saith How could the Apostle giue unto you that which he had not himselfe Harke what he saith Not bearing rule saith he as Lords in the cleargie but behaving your selues as ensamples to the flocke And because thou shalt not thinke it to be spoken only in humilitie and not in veritie marke that the Lord himselfe sayth in the Gospell The Kings of the people doe rule over them but you shalt not doe so Heere Lordship and Dominion is plainly forbidden to the Apostles and darest thou then vsurpe the same If thou wilt be a Lord thou shalt loose thine Apostleship or if thou wilt be an Apostle thou shalt lose thy Lordship For truely thou shalt departe from the one of them If thou wilt haue both thou shalt lose both or else thinke thy selfe to be of that number of whom God doth so greatly complaine saying They haue reigned but not through me they are become Princes and I haue not knowne it now if it doe suffice thee to rule without the Lord thou hast thy glory but not with God But if we will keepe that which is bidden us let us heare what is sayd he that is the greatest among you saith Christ shall be made as the least and he that is highest shall be as the Minister and for example he set a child in the middest of them So this then is the true forme and institution of the Apostles trade Lordship and rule is forbidden ministration and service is commaunded Ye heare what this bright mornyng starre which is likened to the full Moone in her strenght and to the sun-shining in the Church and temple of God sayth and concludeth that Lordship and rule is forbidden to Bishops and ministration and service is commaunded And in another place he saith To enrich the Cleargie is against the rule of Christ Fox tom 1 art 31 pag 55 16 art 34. Silvester the Pope and Constantine the Emperour were deceaved in giving and taking possessions into the Church And in another article he saith The Pope with all his Cleargie having those great possessions as they haue be heretikes in so having and the secular power in so suffering of them doe not well And touching the practise of his owne life It is written of him that he went in a simple russet gowne Fox tom 1 pag 526. and yet he was specially favored mainteined by the great Duke of Lancaster sonne to King Edward the third with the Lord Henrie Percie high Marshall of England and many other Lords and men of great account who esteemed him as an excellent learned man true Preacher of the gospell imbraced his doctrine even to the danger of their owne liues were able enough to maintaine him like a Lord or at the least to haue put him out of his simple russet gowne into a Mathematicall capp with foure angles deviding the whole world into foure partes as our booke of Martirs termeth it with a great and large sarcenet scarf about his necke and a wide sleeved gowne with a standing coller as an Archdeacon if he or they had thought it meete for him to haue been so like a Lord or pettie Lord mainteyned The next that we read of which God raysed up after Wickliffe was Iohn Husse Iohn Husse who being of so great reputation amonge the Bohemians that they came to the Counsell of Constance to make his defence for the gospell of Christ He was accompanyed and assisted besides others of his frends with divers Noble men of the Bohemians who stood by him and spake boldly in his defence even to the day and time of his Martirdome yet was he never nor would be mainteyned with the great living and high estate of a Lord Bishop as plainely appeareth by his last farwell to his deare frend brother Martin farwell saith he in Christ Iesus with all them that keepe his law Acts Mo. to 1. p. 747. My graye coat if you will keepe to your selfe for my remembrance but I thinke you are ashamed to weare that gray colour therefore you may giue it to whom you shall thinke good My white coate you shall giue the Minister N my scoller To George or else to Zuzicon 60 groats or else my gray coate for he hath faithfully served me
this day that over Levites there must be Priests vnto Priests there belong Aulters vnto Aulters Sacrifice All which things yet in the old Testament were knowne to be but figuratiue shadowes yea head hornes and all and when he hath once gotten in though he may be as plainly seene according to the proverb as a mans nose of his face yet he so maintaineth the possession that he hath once gotten both by faire foule meanes by religious pretences and rigorous defences that it is allmost impossible to get him out againe As for example who seeth not in these our dayes at the least where the light of the Gospell doth shine the horrible abhominations of the vnpreaching ministery Non-residencies Pluralities Impropriations excōmunication for euery trifle the pompous and lordly estate of Bishops together with those rotten and beggerly Ceremonies which haue so long burdened troubled the Churches Nay Kinges and Princes are made beleeue that their state could not indure nor their Kingedome stand yea that heaven and earth would be confounded if these thinges should be reformed But alas it is lamentable to behold what curious carvers what trustie tasters are used in bodily meates how great care is taken that a moate fall not into our earthly cuppes But though the toe or foote of * A Toad a paddocke fall into the foode of our soules wee are not afraid to swallow it though we se it But let vs proceede in opening farther the thinges which were done in the Churches and the abuses that crept in shortly after Saint Iohns time vntill Antichrist his great whore of Babell came up to the toppe of their glorious dignitie Now Sathan having sowed his tares among the good corne which the holy Apostles had sowne which tares grew so fast in the hartes of many Sardian sleeping Angels that pride and ambition pricked them to be lifted vp aboue their fellowes And as many hundred yeares after Gregorie the Bishop of Rome himselfe said of Iohn Bishop of Constantinople In this pride of theirs what other thing is there betokened but that the time of Antichrist is even at hād For he followeth him saith Gregorie that despising the ioye of equalitie amonge the Angels labored to pearke up to the top of singularitie For they thought it a base thing not to be lifted vp aboue their fellow Pastors or Elders so that they procured by agreement and consent among themselues that some one among the rest in every assemblie should be called a Bishop where before that time all the preachers Pastors and Elders were generally called Bishops so that Bishope Pastor or Elder were Synonima wordes of one and the selfe same signification But now they agreed that one of them onely in every assemblie should be called a Bishop and he onely and singularly should be so termed wheras all the rest were so called before which injurious dealing with the rest of the Ministers went yet more forward namely as at the first agrement one only in every Congregation or assemblie should be called Bishop so this devise of Sathan with in a while grew so fast that onely one in every Dioces was so called and all the rest were called Ministers Elders and Pastors and not Bishops What injurie this was to all other Pastors Elders yea to the holy Ghost himselfe which gaue them all as well as to any one that reverent name of Bishop he that hath eyes in his head may easily see For as poore christians should haue great injurie if it should be made vnlawfull to call any man a Christian or a christian man but only a Prince a Lord or a Noble man so all the pore Pastors and Ministers haue great injurie that one Lord in a Citie or Dioces onely should be called Bishop seeing Gods owne word calleth all Pastors and Ministers of the word Bishops as well as all faithfull people Christians And thus within a while these Bishops did not only take to themselues the name wealth dignities which God forbiddeth them but they tooke from other such names wealth and dignities as God had appointed them Shewing themselues plainely disobedient to God and injurous towardes men and namely towardes their brethren and fellow servantes in one and the selfe same function appoynted by God And heere touching this matter take the wordes of M. Calvine that excellent and learned Divine upon the first chapter to Titus Porro locus hic abunde docet Calv in epist ad Tit. cap 1. 7. nullum esse Presbyteri et Episcopi discrimen c. Verum nomen officii quod Deus in commune omnibus dederat in vnum solum transferri reliquis spoliatis et iniurium est et absurdum Deniquc sic pervertere spiritus sancti linguam vt nobis eaedem voces aliud quam voluerit significent nimis profanae audaciae est This place of the Apostle to Titus saith M. Calvine doth very evidently teach that there is no difference betweene a Bishope and an Elder or Minister but the name of an office which God gaue to them all in common to transfer it onely to one among many of them spoyling or robbing the rest thereof is both injurious and absurd To conclude saith M. Calvine soe to pervert the tongue or language of the Holy Ghost that the same wordes or names should signifie an other thinge vnto vs then he would haue it It is a point of too prophane or heathenish bouldnes Heere-vnto I will add the wordes of M. Musculus in his Common Places being translated into English and dedicated vnto Parker Arch-Bishop of Cāterburie Musc Com. pla fol 166 in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth his wordes are these When that temptation of greatnes and superioritie gat once into the mindes of the Priests Pastors and Doctors then men began to chose some one of the Elders which should be set aboue the rest and advaunced vnto higher degree and be called a Bishop and thus he should onely and singularly be called as all the rest were commonly called before Whether this device doth any good to Christs Church that Bishopps are become rather of custome as Ierome saith than upon any truth of the Lords appoyntment greater then the Priests it is better declared in these latter times then when this custome was first taken up which we may thanke for all the pride wealth and tyrannie of the Princly and riding Bishops yea for the corruption of all Churches which if Ierome sawe no doubt he would acknowledge it to be not the device of the holy Ghost to take away schismes 〈◊〉 it was pretended to be but of Sathan himselfe to decaie and destroy the old Ministerie in feeding the Lords flocke Whence it is come that the Church hath not true Pastors Doctors and Elders or Bishops but under the couller of these names we haue idle bellies magnificall Princes Beza in Phil cap. 1. 1 Wherevnto I ad also the words of M. Beza upon the first chapter to
that thou alwayes be mindfull of vs. August epist â—â— Likewise Ierome writing to Augustine saith Domino vere sancto et beatissimo Papae Augustino Hierenimus in Domino salutem To the right holie and most blessed Pope Augustine Ierome wisheth health in the Lord. The very same words also are vsed vnto Augustine in his epistle 21. And so likewise in the rest Neither doe I speake these things to condemne those excellent auncient Fathers who otherwise many yeares were singular instruments profited greatly the Church of God but to shew how great a buses crept in duringe the most pure times like as hath been before said even in the time of the Apostles themselues and after more more vnto the full setting up of Antichrist the Pope that great Papa the Bishop of Rome who alone gat this naÌ„e Papa Pope at the last to be peculiar proper to himselfe Thus growing vp by little and litle from the first beginnyng of the petie Papa vntill he and all his cleargie with him came vp vnto their full perfection and papisticall dignitie Which time when it drew neere errours and most enormous and shamefull abuses crept not in by litle and litle but were throwne in by shouelles full and cart loads And further I noted it to set forth the wonderfull providence of God without which nothing is done in heaveÌ„ earth or hell To set such manifest charecters and markes vpon the first beginnings of mischeife which although it could hardlie be discerned in the beginnings thereof yet in the event and full high estate wherevnto they grew a very child might vnderstand perceaue and see it So that at the lenght when the new light of the gospell should shine even the old and first originall errors might therby the better be corrected For in Prophecies mysteries it must alwayes be obserued which that most auncient Father Ireneus saith in his 4. booke 43. chapter Omnis enim prophetia priusquam habet efficaciaÌ„ c. All prophecies saith he before they haue the effect be as it were riddles ambiguities vnto men but when the time is come and that is come to passe which is prophesied then the prophesies haue a cleare and vndoubted exposition So we see in this mysterie of Papa or Pope when it first began it was such an aenigma as was almost vnpossible to vnderstand wherevnto the old Serpent ment to bring it But now the event thereof being come and the Angell betweene heaven and earth preaching the everlastinge Gospell and setting up the new light thereof in many Nations and Churches every man that wincketh not may see it Now therefore to proceede as Augustine saith in his 18. booke and Second chapter of the Cittie of God That it may the better appeare how Babilon the first Rome keepeth her course with the Citie of God whom shee maketh a pilgrime or stranger in this world When the name of Pope had thus possessed the Bishops whereof many were both godly and learned yet they never drempt of the mischeif that followed nor of the great Papa the Pope that man of sinne even the sonne of perdition that exalteth himselfe against all that is called God and sitteth in the temple of God sheewing himselfe that he is God The mystery of which iniquity began to worke even in the Apostle Pauls time How be it the godly Fathers as I said little suspecting any such matter laboured tooth and nayle to keepe under the Pompe pride and ambition of the Bishops Pastors of the Church which they saw now began to grow both in riches and regiment and which after their time grew in few yeares beyond all measure But because I shall haue occasion to use the examples and doctrine of the auntient learned and godly Fathers against the poÌ„pe pride and lordly estate of Bishops A sufficient maiÌ„tenance is due to the ministery And what it may be least I should seeme to be injurous and prejudiciall to the sufficiencie of honor living and maintenance which both by the word of God and by the iudgment of the auncient Fathers doth of right belong vnto all Pastors Bishops or ministers of the word and which the authority of all christian Magistrats Princes ought to provide for theÌ„ I will adventure to set downe a proportion of such estate and living as I am fully perswaded doth of right and by the law of God appertaine vnto them and ought by Princes and Magistrats to be appoynted and provided for them Wherein I cannot but obserue the most excellent and honorable advice and charge which the Kings Majestie in his owne booke giveth vnto his Sonne our Noble Prince As first in his preface he saith I exhort my Sonne to be benificiall vnto the ministrie Basilicon doâ—oÌ„ praysing God that there is presently a sufficient number of good men of them in this kingdome of Scotland and yet are they all knowne to be against the forme of the English Church And in his second booke his Majestie chargeth him that he should see all the Churches within his Dominions planted with good Pastors the Scholes the Seminarie of the Church maintained the doctrine and Discipline preserved in puritie according to Gods word and sufficient provision for their sustentation It perteineth therefore to the duety of Princes to see that there be a sufficient provision for the sustentation and maintenance of their Pastors and suerly Gods law doth expresly requier it And as the law of God doth evidently forbid them a Lordly estate so it doth vtterly condemne the beggerly and miserable estate of the Pastors and preachers of his word Wherefore the law saith Beware that thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou shalt be vpon the earth Vpon which place M. Calvine saith Deut 12 Moses addeth That the people should beware in any wise that they defrauded them not of their right And not without cause For as I haue told you before saith M. Calvine God had appoynted them of purpose to serue him Calvin and the greater parte of them also to teach his people that his law might be knowne Seeing it was so it was good reason that they should haue wherewith to finde and maintaine them For in very deede aparte of the inheritaunce belonged to them because they were descended of the linage of Abraham But God put them from it to the end they should not be troubled neither with tilling of the ground nor with any other businesses but onely giue them selues wholly to the doeing of their office And it is not without cause that Moses plainly exhorteth the people to doe their duety in this behalfe for wee see the vnthankfulnes of the world They Idolaters can finde in their hearts to mainteine their Preists and they spare for no cost but as for them that serue God purely there is commonly no account made of them as hath been seene in all times And further he saith And if it were in the worlds